I just don’t think most / any connectors are going to be compatible with modern ddr speeds. Even doing the layout on these smd pads takes a lot of work to make it right. You’d be taking a major speed downgrade which would limit your performance way more than this ram amount upgrade overcomes.
Quick Edit: storage is another beast entirely where I agree with you completely. Looks like steam deck you can upgrade the ssd and it’s at least way easier than this. Comparable to a laptop.
Wouldn’t be a speed downgrade for the steamdeck, for future generarions I would agree. I think thickness is the primary factor.
Yeah I thought about this some more. I totally forgot that even on my PC I installed ram through a connector. So there is a capability, but my experience is just more in an embedded electronics place where it really isn’t standard just to save space and cost. We also theoretically know the requirements going in so leaving space to upgrade isn’t required like it is for a generic platform like a PC or steamdeck. I don’t think the typical DIMM connectors would work with the form factor, but a different connector could maybe do it. There could also possibly be reliability concerns with ram in a handheld around whatever movement the connector, is expected to deal with, but that couldn’t be overcome. So yeah it’s for sure possible but it would take some work.
I feel like a solution similar to m.2 could work, holding the module in place with a screw. I dont think the m.2 connector would suffice as it only has 67 pins and DIMMs have I think 288 pins, so that’s quite a difference. I do think SODIMM has less pins, but not much less, definitely not to the tune of less than a quarter as many.
Having recently looked inside my steam deck to upgrade the storage, I honestly think they would have had room for at least one SODIMM slot, but the tradeoff is increased thermals, more power draw, and probably some design constraints around the pcb leads possibly leading to increased overhead or latency. I agree that a new form factor would be best to address these issues. It would be cool if something similar to the SXM socket came out, having a pad of pins so you can increase the amount of pins while taking up the same space.
![[MOD] SteamDeck upgrade to 32gb of ram(lemmy.ml)](https://lemmy.ml/pictrs/image/4e4b508f-e6cf-45b3-b3cc-ff897cada107.jpeg){kind=link}